Crutchie's Tutor
by missanna444
Summary: Modern AU. Crutchie is a sophomore at a boarding school and befriends Davey, the new guy. He enlists the help of Jack, Katherine, and Elmer to win the heart of his new friend.
1. Chapter 1

"And Katherine helped you move in like I asked her to?" Jack asked. He was on a video call with Crutchie.

"Of course. Jack, it's boarding school, not college. I could've moved in on my own. It's not like I had a ton of stuff with me anyways." Crutchie rolled his eyes.

"I know, I know. But with me off at college, I just wanted to make sure you're doing alright." the older boy replied. Crutchie nodded with a slight smile.

"But, uh, they don't pick on sophomores as much as they pick on freshman, right? It'll be better than last year, right?" he asked. There was a moment of hesitation before Jack nodded.

"Of course, Crutch."

"Good, 'cause I dunno what I'm gonna do without ya to keep 'em from shovin' me in a locker again." He said, then sighed a little. "This year is gonna be terrible. I only have one class I like…"

"Advanced Photography, right?"

"Yeah… But I'm still taking CP English. I've tried so hard to get to Honors level, but they won't let me, just because of…"

"Crutchie." Jack said, cutting him off. "You'll be fine. Who's your roommate this year anyways?"

"Just Elmer."

"Well, hey! That isn't so bad. He's a good guy, he'll watch out for you."

"Are you kidding? Elmer's a wimp! He's all talk. We all know that if it was a real fight, he'd never be able to protect me." Crutchie complained.

"Quit complaining, you'll be fine." Jack reassured him. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door.

"It's open!" Crutchie called. The door opened and Elmer walked in, wearing his trademark blue and white striped t-shirt that he wore at least once a week.

"Crutchie, I'm showing a new guy around campus, you mind if we hang out in here for a minute?" The older boy asked.

"Well sure, but i don't wanna be rude to Jack…" Crutchie gestured to the laptop.

"Oh. Hi, Jack!" Elmer grinned, waving to Jack.

"Hey, Elm! Who's this new guy you're talking about?" Jack asked.

"Some guy in my history class. Davey Jacobs?"

"Never heard of him, but bring him in."

Elmer opened the door a little more and a tall, pale, dark-haired boy walked in. "Guys, this is Davey. Dave, this is Crutchie and Jack." Elmer said, introducing them. Davey gave a small nod to both of them.

"Um, hi, I hope I'm not intruding. Hi, Jack. Hi, Crutchie." He said, but addressed Crutchie as Jack and Jack as Crutchie, confusing the two of them.

"Oh, I'm Crutchie, he's Jack." Crutchie corrected Davey, holding up the crutch that had been next to him on the bed. Davey's eyes widened and his face flushed with embarrassment.

"I'm so sorry, I should have noticed that. I didn't mean to-"

"It's alright, don't worry." Crutchie smiled at him.

"T-thank you." The tall boy nodded.

"So, what grade are you in?" Elmer cut in, noticing the slight awkwardness.

"I'm a junior. But since I'm new here, they put me in sophomore English, CP level." Davey sighed.

"CP? That's my class." Crutchie told him.

"Really? Cool, at least I'll have a friend in that class."

"We're friends?" Crutchie said, a little hopefully.

"Sure we are. You seem like a nice guy." Davey smiled a little.

That evening, the day before classes started, Crutchie's mind was occupied by something other than school. He kept thinking about the new guy. He seemed like a nice enough guy, even if he was awkward. And, it was nice to know he had a friend in his class. Finally, there was someone in that class who wouldn't make fun of him. Well, not yet anyways. He hated to think of what might happen if Davey found out why Crutchie was in CP English.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Crutchie walked into Photography class. He sat down in his usual seat, towards the back of the room. Usually, there was no one in the seat next to him. No one usually sat next to the boy with the crutch. But this time, there was someone there.

"Oh. Hi." He said, seeing that it was Davey. "I didn't realize you were in this class."

"Yeah, I was pretty good back at my old school." He shrugged, then looked around the room. A lot of photographs were displayed on the walls, many of them were pictures Crutchie had taken. "Though, not as good as you." He added.

"Nah, I'm not that great." Crutchie shrugged.

"Oh really? Most of these pictures are yours. And, they look amazing."

Crutchie smiled slightly. "Thanks, I guess." He looked away, trying to hide the fact that his face was a little red. "So, uh, you do photography too?" He asked.

"Yeah, I do. Mostly just as a hobby though."

"Photography is pretty much the only thing I can do." He shrugged, but smiled a little.

"That can't be true. I'm sure there's plenty a guy with a bad leg can do. Sure, you can't do sports, but there are academic things you can do."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. There's painting, drawing, writing…" Davey shrugged. "You don't need to have two working legs for those, just a little imagination."

"Yeah, well, my buddy Jack does the painting and drawing, not me. And writing… Writing's not really my thing." Crutchie said quietly, not wishing to expand on his statement.  
"Oh… Why not?"

"It just isn't, okay? I'm not a good writer."

"Oh, yeah, I guess it's not for everybody…" Davey nodded. He could sense that the other boy didn't want to talk about it and stayed quiet. Neither of them spoke again for the rest of the class. They didn't have any more classes together until after lunch. When the bell rang for lunch, Crutchie went over to sit with Elmer.

"So, how was Photography? Davey told me you were in his class." the sandy-haired boy said. Crutchie shrugged.

"It was alright. We didn't talk much. It was nice to have a friend in my class, though." he said, taking a bite of his sandwich. Elmer grinned at him.

"What?" Crutchie asked.  
"You like him."

"I do not!"

"Yes, you do! I can tell."  
"Oh really? And what do you know about dating? Your motto is, 'I'm single, and not by choice.' You've never been on a date in your life!"

"So? I don't have to have been on a date to know what it looks like when a person likes someone. For one thing, when I mentioned him, you immediately got defensive and started blushing."

"What? No!"

"See? There it is! You're about as red as a tomato!" Elmer laughed.

"Okay, fine. So maybe I do like him. Elm, he's in my English class. What if he finds out?" Crutchie replied, putting emphasis on the words "English class".

"Finds out what?"

"You know…"

"Oh. Right. Crutchie, even if he did find out, he's not gonna like you any less. You're still really smart. Besides, Davey is really nice. He'd never judge you because of something so small." Elmer said, being serious for once.

"I hope you're right, Elmer. I hope you're right." Crutchie sighed.

After lunch, Crutchie walked to English, dreading seeing Davey. Of course, the teacher had seated the two of them next to each other, so he really couldn't avoid talking to him. The teacher gave them all copies of the first book of the year. They were to start reading right away. Crutchie was still on the first page after almost twenty minutes.

"Everything okay?" Davey asked quietly, wondering if something was wrong.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm alright… Just, uh, a slow reader." Crutchie muttered.

"Oh, okay…" he replied. "Well, if you ever want help or anything… I'd be more than happy to-"

"I don't need help." Crutchie snapped, cutting him off. He looked away. "Sorry, I just…"

"It's okay, don't worry…" Davey said. The older boy felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Oscar Delancey sitting behind him. "What?"

"You can't help the crip." Oscar smirked, his New York accent very thick.

"First of all, why not? Secondly, don't call him a crip, that's not nice." Davey replied. Crutchie's eyes widened, looking at both of them. There was no way he was going to be able to stop Davey from finding out now, Oscar would stop at nothing to make Crutchie embarrassed. Oscar rolled his eyes.

"What, ya didn't know? Most everyone does, I'm surprised he didn't tell ya himself."

"Tell me what?" Davey asked uncertainly.

"Oscar, don't-" Crutchie said quietly.

"He's gotta find out sometime, Crutchie." Oscar said, then turned back to Davey. "See, the crip ain't just a crip. He's got, uh, some readin' problem. What's it called again?" He said.

"Dyslexia…" Crutchie muttered.

"Oh yeah. That. The kid's dyslexic. You couldn't teach him to read if you tried." Oscar explained. Before anything else could be said, the teacher made Oscar sit by himself for talking in class. Once Oscar had left, Davey looked at Crutchie.

"Are you really? Dyslexic, I mean…" He asked. Crutchie nodded.

"Yeah. Just about everybody knows, I dunno why I tried to keep it a secret… But he's right, you wouldn't be able to teach me if you tried."  
"I don't know, I think I could. I've known plenty of dyslexic people and they learned how to read. They just needed a little encouragement." Davey explained.

"Really?" Crutchie said, with a slight smile.

"Really. And I'll help you if you want."

"I… I'd like that." Crutchie nodded, smiling.


	3. Chapter 3

After class a few days later, Crutchie and Davey were sitting in Davey's dorm room. Their book for English was sitting open in Crutchie's lap as he tried to read it. Davey started by pointing out words to him and having him read them. Crutchie got them right almost half the time, but it wasn't enough.

"What if you try reading full sentences? Then maybe it'll make more sense because the words will be in context and you can guess what they are." Davey suggested. The other boy nodded and flipped to the beginning of the book. He began to read, out loud, the sentences. He struggled a bit and every time he did, Davey quietly helped him with the words. As the afternoon wore on, Crutchie noticed how kind and gentle Davey was as he was helping him. Most, upon discovering his dyslexia, would either brush him aside or tease him. Davey did neither of those things. He was helpful and extremely polite when he corrected Crutchie's mistakes. Crutchie found himself falling even more for the new kid than he already had. After a little while, they ended up taking a break.

"So, what're you even doing in a lower level English class anyways?" Crutchie asked. "You're practically a genius."

"I'm hardly a genius… But I'm in lower level in all of my classes because I'm a transfer student. My folks moved me and my little brother to this city a few weeks ago." Davey explained.

"You've got folks?"

"Of course. And you… don't?" he asked carefully.

"No. I don't."  
"Then… Pardon my asking, but how do you pay money to go here if you're an orphan? Isn't this school expensive?"

"Me and some of my friends go here as part of the orphanage's education program." Crutchie shrugged.

"Oh… I'm sorry. About you not having parents, I mean."

"It's not that bad, I promise. All I'm really not missing out on much, except for home cooked meals." he joked, trying for a laugh.

"If you miss home cooked meals that much, you should come over for dinner sometime… I'm sure my parents would love to meet you." Davey offered with a gentle smile.

"No, I couldn't, I'd just be a bother."

"Not at all! My mother loves cooking for my friends. Like I said, you're a really nice guy, my family will love you."

"If you say so…"

"I do say so. What do you think? Next Friday sound good?" Davey smiled.

"Yes, t-that sounds great…"

"So, uh, should we get back to work?" Davey suggested.

"Actually, I'm kinda tired. I'll see you in class tomorrow." Crutchie said. Davey nodded and helped him up. Crutchie limped back to his own dorm room and shut the door behind him when he got there.

"Oh, hey, you're back! How'd it go?" Elmer asked, looking up from his comic book.

"It was fine…" Crutchie replied, sitting on his bed and tapping the floor nervously with his foot.

"What happened?" Elmer said, sitting up and looking at Crutchie. He could tell something was bothering his roommate.

"Davey invited me to his folks' place for dinner next Friday… What am I gonna do? I'm gonna mess up, his parents are gonna hate me, it's just going to be terrible. How do I prepare for this? I'm so scared…" Crutchie said, looking for his laptop as he talked.

"Wait, you're going to his house for dinner? That's great!"

"Are you really that naive? No wonder everyone knows you've never had a girlfriend…" Crutchie muttered.

"Hey-! Oh never mind, you're completely right." Elmer shrugged as Crutchie turned on the laptop.

"I'm going to call Jack. He'll know what to do. He always knows what to do."

Jack wasn't as knowledgeable as the boys thought, which made Crutchie even more nervous. If Jack didn't know what to do, then who would?

"Sorry, Crutch. I've never had to meet somebody's parents before. I mean, I met Katherine's dad before, but that was before I knew her and he already hated me anyways. So, that was never really an issue."

"You never tried to fix your relationship with him so he wouldn't hate you?" Elmer asked, somehow a part of the conversation now.

"Elm, this is Principal Pulitzer we're talking about."  
"Oh, right…"

"Anyways," Crutchie said loudly, interrupting them. "Now what am I going to do? I mean, it's not like anyone knows I like him but I'd still like to make a good impression."

"Just be yourself. As cliche as that sounds, there's no way that he and his folks wouldn't like you for who you are." Jack replied after a moment of thought. "Just don't accidentally set anything on fire and you'll be fine."

"That was one time!" Crutchie protested.

"Listen, you'll be fine, okay?"

"You promise?"

"I promise."


End file.
